Harvey: Our Very Own Giant Rabbit

Back in 1950, a popular film titled “Harvey” hit the theaters. Jimmy Stewart starred as a wealthy alcoholic man who starts having visions of a giant rabbit named Harvey. Stewart, named Elwood P. Dowd, lives with his sister Veta and her daughter. Needless to say, Veta worries that Elwood has gone insane. In the process of trying to have him committed, Veta admits that she occasionally sees Harvey, herself. Even the therapist assigned to help Elwood begins to have his own unwanted relationship with Harvey.

Skipping over a lot of the story line, Life in the Boomer Lane will get to the punchline: Harvey isn’t imagined at all. He is a Pooka, a mischievous spirit in animal form, invisible to most, who has been sent to shake things up among a group of self-satisfied, clueless-about-relationship people. Harvey, an unreal being, through mayhem, enables the film’s characters to acknowledge what they hadn’t believed possible and to thus transform their lives.

We’ve just had our very own Harvey. This one, still raging, has been as difficult for people to comprehend as it was for the characters in the film to acknowledge the existence of a six-foot, three-inch tall rabbit. Like the character in the film, we believe that our Harvey came out of nowhere, an unreal, freak-of-nature-storm that comes along only once-in-a-lifetime.

It is far too early to analyze what happened. We are still trying to save lives. But eventually, the questions will be raised. And some will ask if this particular storm might have been more than a random, albeit terrifying, event. Others will see a pattern here in the superstorms that have wreaked havoc within the last 10-15 years.

Scientists have already weighed in. Their conclusion is that Harvey the Hurricane would have been a terrible hurricane all on its own. But, within the context of climate change, it became a horrific one. Skipping over a lot of scientific terms, LBL will repeat what you probably learned in high school: a hotter atmosphere holds more moisture. Even a one percent increase in warmth means a lot more rain.

The waters of the Gulf of Mexico are about 1.5 degrees warmer than they were from 1980-2010. One point five degrees may not sound like a lot, but it increases the intensity of the storm. Roger Harribin, environmental analyst with bbc.com says “Environmental lawyers are questioning whether events like Harvey should still be referred to as ‘Acts of God’ or ‘Natural Disasters’ as they are made worse by emissions from fossil fuels.” This is a pretty significant statement. Like Harvey the Rabbit, this storm is very real and its intensity is of our own doing.

Like the characters in the film Harvey, it’s easier, at least at first, to deny that what we are seeing is real. It’s so much easier to chalk this up to weather being random, unpredictable, and fleeting. Most of us will continue to obsessively follow the Harvey drama on TV and on our cells. We will cry when we see the elderly and the very young being rescued from flooded homes by heroes who left their own dry homes to help others. We will make donations, and, as the devastation continues, we will make even more. We will shake our heads in fear and disbelief.

But, eventually, we will move on. Our own lives will call us back to whatever it is we were doing before Harvey hit. After awhile, Harvey will become one of those terrible events like Sandy and Katrina that we are glad is over. We will leave those impacted by the hurricane to attempt to rebuild their lives from nothing. We will forget that many of those impacted by Katrina have still not done so, even 12 years later.

But, while we attend to our normal lives, the climate will continue to do what it has been doing. And Harvey, or another version of Harvey, will be waiting. Another storm will occur, one that will harness the extra power given to it, compliments of climate change. It will seem to come out of nowhere, it will rage, and it will impact most heavily on those who are the most vulnerable.

Harvey the Rabbit brought a message to the characters in the film, one that they thankfully heeded. Harvey the Hurricane is speaking to us now.

As I was watching Stephen Colbert the other day I thought there has never been a time when they had so much material to write about. He talked about not being able to do much until a few hours before show time because things change so fast. Material gets outdated before he gets a chance to use it.

Somewhere, somehow, people have to get that violent weather will do more damage, both in terms of human life and expense, than war. We are facing a threat that we simply wouldn’t have enough resources to deal with.

I can’t tell you how much I love your analogy. I keep hoping that, finally, “this time” we will hear nature’s wake up call, but we continue to ignore her more and more disastrous warnings. Let’s just keep pretending the giant rabbit isn’t real… it’s so much easier that way.

I’m one of the really lucky ones who live south of Houston and made it through this catastrophe without getting flooded and with electricity intact. I can tell you now that I am working even harder at leaving this place than I was before. I’m going back out west to be closer to family and to be where I only have to worry about infrequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions (well, more infrequent than the weather we get along the gulf coast for every June – Nov). It’s a given that hurricanes and tropical storms will continue to dump upon these coastal areas, and I think they will increase in ferocity as the oceans become even warmer. Only fools like our current president will continue to deny climate change and the hand of man in all of this. They will either never see that invisible rabbit, or they will ignore it, to our peril.

Thanks for these comments, Rebecca. First off, I am relieved that you have avoided harm. The gulf coast, in addition to incurring warmer temps, has also experienced a rise in density, especially in areas that were considered too vulnerable to settle in the past. It’s the same story all along our coastlines. It’s like everyone wants to move closer to an active volcano, for the spectacular view. I’d say there should be a law about developing these areas, but of course, that would never happen.
And I just saw a report last night about the huge chemical plants that are now under water. Texas law doesn’t require that owners of the plant release info about what chemicals are inside (the state seems to have no environmental laws at all). Some are saying that if one blows, and the chemical is deadly enough, it will do more damage than the hurricane did.

Harvey brought back memories of Sandy who hit the East Coast here in 2012…yes these storms will keep dumping on us – even a hard rain gets to me….the only thing that kept me going that night was my family was safe, the house can be fixed and as bad as it was there were others who lost way more than I did. G-d bless us all. Prayers for Texas.

I’m sorry that you had to go through Sandy. My son-in-law’s family is on Long Island and they had a very tough time. There is a clearer and clearer pattern here, that our current president refuses to see. Doing anything would be “bad for business.” So, instead, we will put human lives at risk.

So true. My heart goes out to Texas….in fact as an Avon Rep we are now setting up a fund for people to donate $10 and Avon will be sending out personal items to Texas. But it will be a long time before they see normal….

Thanks, Deb. This has been horrific on so many levels. And now, people are left to deal with the devastation. Already they are saying that FEMA isn’t responding. They are caught between a rock and a hard place.

Thanks LBL for the analogy. I once heard a Senator, perhaps from Texas, say that man had a lot of hubris to believe that our actions are impacting the world because God was in control, not man. I’ve always thought that people who think that way are the ones with the hubris. To believe that God made this incredible planet and peopled it with humans, giving them all they need to survive, and yet to be okay with the fact that we are destroying it at an unbelievable pace, to me that is the epitomy of hubris. I keep wondering if the wake up call will ever reach these people.

Don’t get me started on religion. What they are really saying is that we can rape the planet as much as we want to, but if the planet reacts, it has nothing to do with us. In other words, that consequences have nothing to do with actions. I, myself, matured past that logic by the time I was five years old. I’ll stop here, before all my readers dump me.

Yes yes yes! Thank you for saying this. I hope many many people say this. We had our own bad flood here on the East Coast of Australia back in March, triggered by a cyclone, and it was indeed devastating & stressful. But nothing like as big as Harvey; what a huge mess we are all in…

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